


Steadier Ground

by Wolfling



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Gen, Post S2, Remix, non S3 compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-04
Updated: 2014-05-04
Packaged: 2018-01-21 20:50:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1563605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wolfling/pseuds/Wolfling
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He caught her scent out in the same part of the woods five more times and eventually he started to wonder if maybe he should approach her. It was pretty obvious now that this wasn't part of some plan to trap him or his, or even Scott. It was just a teenaged girl being decidedly maudlin about a relationship she herself had ended.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Steadier Ground

**Author's Note:**

  * For [](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts).
  * Inspired by [The Rock](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/48146) by TeenWolfFlotsam. 



The first time Derek caught her scent in the woods, he'd worried that it was because the hunters were actively after his pack again. Which, when half of said pack was still missing and there was an alpha pack prowling the area was not what he wanted to deal with.

He'd done a quick run through the woods, looking for signs of any other hunters, of traps, of her father at least, but there had been nothing but her scent.

He didn't let his guard down though -- not that he was prone to let it down regardless considering -- and when he caught her scent again a few nights later, this time he tracked it just to make sure this wasn't a new threat he had to worry about.

But when he finally spotted her, she was just sitting at the edge of one of the outcroppings that overlooked the city below. She didn't seem to be hunting, in fact she seemed more concerned with a large rock that was near the drop off than any of the rest of her surroundings. She didn't even appear to be armed, which made Derek relax just a little bit. 

Still, he went back after she left to see if he could gather some more information. The rock that she had been so fixated on still bore the very faint markings of words someone had left there and if Derek concentrated, he could catch the faintest whiff of Scott's scent underneath the fresher Argent one. 

Wonderful. It seemed this was some leftover angst from that doomed romance. Which meant that whatever it was that she was out in the woods for at night, it probably at least didn't have anything to do with him and his. 

With that vital bit of knowledge, he was prepared to stop worrying about her and turn his attention fully back to more pressing business.

Like trying to find Erica and Boyd.

And figuring out what to do about the alpha pack.

He caught her scent out in the same part of the woods five more times and eventually he started to wonder if maybe he should approach her. It was pretty obvious now that this wasn't part of some plan to trap him or his, or even Scott. It was just a teenaged girl being decidedly maudlin about a relationship she herself had ended. 

But if she wasn't out in the woods on some sort of hunting mission, then she might not have her guard up, might not be aware of how much more dangerous the woods had gotten since she had left.

Derek didn't care about her well being -- he _didn't_ , he told himself, because she certainly wouldn't care about _his_ \-- but if something happened to her, that would bring down the full wrath of her father and all of his hunting contacts. That... would be worse than bad. 

Not that he wanted or was willing to tell her exactly what was going on out there. That was the kind of thing that could excite hunters and, while he really didn't care if Argent and the Alpha pack went at each other, that was the kind of fight that his pack could easily get caught in the middle of so it was best avoided. 

So he needed to get her to stop coming out and wandering around in the dark, but he was unwilling to tip his hand enough to tell her the truth. That left him with limited options, all of which involved his confronting and talking to her. So he would go with that and hope that the right words would come to him to convince her to go home and stay there.

The next time Derek caught her scent, instead of avoiding the clearing, he made his way there directly.

"He's not coming," he said to announce his presence, stepping out of the sheltering shadows to face her. She didn't startle. She was trained too well for that, he gave her that much. He continued, "His scent is almost gone. Scott hasn't been here since you broke up. But _you_ have. In fact, you've come here almost every night since you came back to town."

She looked at him, lip curled up in a disdainful sneer that reminded him so much of Kate it made his next words crueler than he otherwise would have planned.

"Must hurt, that he's not waiting for you, like a little puppy." He grinned, baring his teeth. "Sad really." 

That finally got a reaction. "Go to hell," she said and moved to the side as if trying to get a better offensive position.

Derek tensed, but didn't give any ground. "Looks like I struck a nerve."

She whirled to face him and if she'd been a wolf her eyes would have been glowing in challenge, her scent gone all hot spice with anger. "What do you want, Derek? You've won. Scott and I are through -- I'm not in your way any more. Congratulations."

Seriously, that was what she thought he was out here confronting her for? Did all teenagers think that their love life was the center of the universe? He ignored the tiny voice in the back of his mind that reminded him that he certainly had.

"You don't get it," he said, taking a step towards her, only for her to take a step back. He grimaced, barely keeping himself from rolling his eyes. Of course she was going to take that as a threat. 

Her attack when it came was only verbal, though it still managed to hit its mark. She was nothing if not accurate with her weapons, be they arrows or words. "And what don't I get, oh wise Alpha? That is, if you still even have a pack."

"Funny," he said, keeping his expression as neutral as he could. There was no way he was going to show the fear and worry he'd been consumed with for months about those missing from his pack. Not to her.

"You ruined my family," she said in all seriousness. 

Derek fought the urge to bare his claws and fangs at her, swallowing the growl in his throat before he could give it voice. The irony of an _Argent_ of all people throwing that accusation into his face... He would have laughed if the whole subject didn't make him want to howl in pain like it always did. 

Somehow he managed to keep his voice and expression steady when he replied because he was damned if he was going to show any weakness in front of her, or any Argent ever again. "Now you really _are_ being funny. I'd say I've hurt fewer people than you or your family ever has. Scott may have thought you needed his protection, but you and I know better. You can't play the innocent, Allison."

It was the first time he'd said her name, the first time he'd even let himself think it, really. Consciously or not, he'd been trying to distance himself. If he didn't put a name to her then it would be easier to deal with the situation without losing his temper or second guessing himself. 

Of course that wasn't how things were working out.

He still might've been better keeping to that plan because him daring to speak her name just seemed to make Allison all the angrier. 

"And you can't play the self-righteous hero," she all put spat at him and Derek almost laughed. If ever he needed proof that she didn't see him at all clearly it was that. He knew he had screwed up, badly, time and time again, would have known that even if people didn't feel the need to keep telling him that to his face. He wasn't stupid, okay? But all he could do was keep going and try to fix his mistakes. He had to keep trying because the alternative was to lay down and die and if he had it in him to do that, he would've done it years ago. The kindest thing he could say about himself was that he was a survivor and that he didn't give up. The last thing he saw himself as was a hero or self-righteous.

Maybe some of that showed on his face because Allison's anger seemed to cool and her next question seemed to be more honest and less an attack. "Is it so hard to believe that I care about Scott?"

Looking at her then, it really wasn't. Everything about her, from her expression down to her very scent shouted with the conviction of her feelings for Scott. 

Just like once upon a time everything about Derek had shouted with the conviction of his feelings for Kate.

He knew what that was like and he understood Allison then, in a way he never thought he would. But he also knew that love between an Argent and a werewolf could only end in tragedy. 

Because the Argents wouldn't let it end any other way.

Allison would be far better off if she could accept that and walk away now before she or Scott lost anyone else.

"You of all people Allison should know better," he told her. "You and Scott will never work." He could practically see the memories his words called up flickering behind Allison's eyes. But she still smelled of sadness and yearning instead of the horror that she would need to feel to truly stay away. 

There was only one way to make her see. "Do you know why it happened?" he asked, trusting that she would know he was referring to her mother, and his biting her.

"Because she was a hunter," Allison replied. "And you're a werewolf."

Derek shook his head. "Nothing's that simple."

"I know that," she said defensively and then started to back up, as if sensing that the conversation was about to go somewhere she wouldn't want it to go, that she was about to find out things were far more complicated than she ever wanted to admit. "I think I've had enough," she said as she turned to go.

She was right, but Derek had come this far. She needed to know. "Your mother? The one you think I attacked without reason? While you were off having fun at the concert, she was murdering your boyfriend," he said bluntly. "You say you care about Scott, but if I hadn't stopped her, he would be dead right now. How would you have felt, then?"

He watched as the words hit her like punches, sending her stumbling back until she was half collapsed on the rock in the center of the clearing. "What?" she asked, face pale and voice small as she had more of her comforting illusions about her family ripped away. 

"Now you know the truth," Derek said, the words coming out bitter, as he tried to suppress the surge of guilt for making anyone -- even an Argent -- look like that. Feel that. He'd been there himself, more than once, that sucker punch of betrayal that came with finding out a loved one had tried to rip out your heart. Still, in the long run, he firmly believed he was better off knowing instead of still believing a lie. He hoped that Allison would think so one day too. "After all," he continued, "it's the least you deserve." 

He turned and left then, shifting forms and running as soon as he was out of sight. He tried to tell himself he wasn't running from the encounter, but there really wasn't any other reason for his full on flight.

That hadn't gone at all like he had expected it to. But then again, when did anything ever go like he was expecting it to?

He could only hope that he hadn't made things worse -- made another Argent even more of an implacable enemy than they already were. 

He didn't think so though. For all that Allison was an Argent through and through, he did surprisingly see bits and pieces of himself in her. In time he thought she would come to appreciate knowing what really had happened, as horrible for her as that knowledge was.

The truth, after all, was always a much steadier ground to brace yourself against than even the most comforting of lies.

**Author's Note:**

> So this is the first remix I've ever written, but I would definitely be open to doing another one. :) It was an interesting challenge both the rewriting from a different character pov from the original story and getting into pre s3 Derek's headspace.


End file.
